A proposed home development off of Maxfield Road is one step closer to happening.

The Hartland Township Board of Trustees conditionally approved a preliminary site plan for Woods Edge, a proposed 21-unit residential development on 20.8 acres of land south of Maxfield Lake.

No one spoke up during public comments during Tuesday’s meeting, which suggests that it is unlikely the development will face opposition from nearby residents. There is one more step left in a four-step process, which is to gain final approval from the board. The public will have another opportunity to comment at a future meeting.

SBTT Development proposed the homes on suburban residential land. Livingston Engineering created the site plans.

“It’s a fairly clean proposal,” Hartland Township Planning Department Director David Campbell said in a previous interview with the Livingston Daily. “Everything seems to be proceeding well, and I’m sure the developers are eager to get started.”

One thing that would need to happen first, a sewer REU (residential equivalent unit) needs to be purchased.

The home “will be connected to the sewer system,” Trustee Joe Colaianne explained.

The land currently has 20 REU’s, so one more will need to be purchased for the 21-home development.

At previous Planning Commission meetings, there was “a lot of talk about requirements for landscaping because it is a wooded area,” Colaianne said. He pointed out that a significant amount of the natural features on the land “will be preserved.”

The land is wooded and there are some wetlands on it. Trees would be taken out to make room for the homes. However, the developers plan to preserve a 25-foot-wide perimeter. LeClair pointed out that there would be a “preservation easement,” he said.

There is also a natural-features protection plan aimed at avoiding impacts to the wetlands.

The preliminary site plan shows one traffic access point on Maxfield Road and an additional entrance for emergency access.

In the 1920s, the land in question was platted for more than 100 cottages. Then in 2008, a different proposed 22-home development gained preliminary site-plan approval, but it never came to fruition.

Contact Livingston Daily county and townships reporter Jennifer Eberbach at 517-548-7148 or at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTheWriter.